1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to computer system user interfaces and more particularly to a computer system user interface having stereo and filtered sound effects for enabling blind or visually impaired users to operate a computer system with a graphical user interface.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In recent years, there has been a move among computer application software developers toward graphical user interfaces. In graphical user interfaces, objects are presented for users to manipulate in ways that are similar to the way that they are manipulated in the real work place. Objects, such as file cabinets, folders, documents, and printers, are displayed on the screen as icons. Users manipulate these objects with a mouse to perform desired operations. For example, to file a document in a folder that is located in a file cabinet in the real work place, the user opens the file cabinet, locates and opens the correct folder, and puts the document inside. In the electronic work place of the graphical user interface, the user performs a similar process. The user opens the file cabinet icon, locates the correct folder icon, and drops the document icon in the folder. Because this is an electronic environment, users do not have to open the folder to put the document in it. However, users have been able to use their knowledge of a real work place to perform this operation.
Normally sighted persons find graphical user interfaces intuitive and easy to work with. However, except for an occasional "beep" or "bong", graphical user interfaces are virtually silent and the vast majority of the information they provide to the user is visual. Thus, graphical user interfaces are essentially not usable by blind or severely visually impaired people.
Blind and visually impaired computer users now benefit from many forms of adaptive technology, including speech synthesis, large-print processing, braille desktop publishing, and voice recognition. However, presently, almost none of the foregoing tools is adapted for use with graphical user interfaces. It has been suggested that programmers could write software with built-in voice labels for icons. Lazzaro, Windows of Vulnerability, Byte Magazine, June 1991, page 416. Various synthetic or recorded speech solutions for making computer display screen contents available to blind persons have been suggested, for example in Golding, et. al., IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin, Vol. 26, No. 10B, pages 5633-5636 (March 1984), and Barnett, et. al., IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin, Vol. 26, No. 10A, pages 4950-4951 (March 1984). Additionally, there have been suggested systems that include a mouse with a braille transducer so that a blind user may read text and obtain certain tactile position feedback from the mouse. Comerford, IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin, Vol. 28, No. 3, page 1343 (August 1985), Affinito, et. al., IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin, Vol. 31, No. 12, page 386 (May 1989). However, while announcing various text items, either audibly or by means of a braille transducer in the mouse, may provide some information to blind user, it does not enable the user to navigate about and locate objects on the computer display screen.
There has been suggested an audible cursor positioning and pixel (picture element) status identification mechanism to help a user of an interactive computer graphics system locate data by using aural feedback to enhance visual feedback. As the cursor is stepped across the screen, an audible click is generated that varies in tone corresponding in tone to the current status of each pixel encountered. With this combination in audible and visual cursor feedback, it becomes a simple task to identify the desired line by noting the change in tone as the cursor moves. For color display applications, each color is represented by a distinct tone so any single pixel may be distinguished from the surrounding pixels of a different color. It has been suggested that this system is especially helpful for visually impaired or learning disabled users. Drumm, et. al., IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin, Vol. 27, No. 48, page 2528 (September 1984). However, the foregoing disclosure does not suggest a means of enabling a blind user to navigate about or locate objects on the computer display screen.